The Price Of Living
by rhysmeyersfan
Summary: [Disturbia] Danielle Brecht is thrown into the mystery that is Mr. Turner. She may not be on house arrest like her brother Kale, but she's just as bored.
1. Nightmares

**A/N: **

I had this idea after seeing Disturbia and decided to run with it. Be kind. My first time writing for suspense genre :)

Read/Review, please! It makes writing a whole lot more fun.

_italics_ flashbacks

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_Danielle put her hand over her mouth to try and keep the Kool-Aid from spewing out everywhere. Her laugh settled and it was taking all of her strength not to start again. "Mom, stop! You know I can't stop when you make that face. It's unreal how much you look like him."_

_Julie lifted the knife from the cutting board and made the face again. Danielle shook her head in exasperation, looking away. Her mother was always imitating her brother Kale's 'emo expression', as Julie liked to call it. He wore it all too often. "Okay, seriously. You're embarrassing me now."_

_Julie gives her daughter a small eye roll. "There's no one here to embarrass you in front of, Dani. I save that for when we're in public, remember?"_

_Danielle peers back down at her text book on the kitchen table, trying to remember where she left off. Math was her worst subject, which is why she always saved her homework for Sundays, because it was the one day when there was nothing to do but study. None of her friends were at the mall or the movies, so she usually just stayed home with her parents and Kale, and occasionally Ronnie when he graced them with his annoying prescence. _

_The phone rang. Danielle reaches for it across from her. "I've got it. Hello?"_

_A smile emerges on Julie's lips. "Is it that boy you won't stop talking about?"_

_Her eyes dart up at Julie in warning. Julie's hands go up __in surrender. "Sorry, sorry. Sheesh."_

_"Hey Daddy. No, she didn't say anything. Dad, stop it. Yeah, well maybe if I got some privacy once in awhile I wouldn't have to worry about certain people listening in on my phone calls. I'm not being mean, I'm cranky. Okay. Why? Okay, whatever. Hey idiot. Bullshit! Seriously? You actually caught something?"_

_"Don't say bullshit." says Julie, scraping the chopped celery into a pot._

_Danielle couldn't help but smile. Her mother didn't care about cursing on any other day but Sunday. She never understood this since no one in the Brecht household had attended church since she was five. "Huh? Oh, she said not to say bullshit. Ew, no she's cooking-- something. Thank God. I'd never eat it anyway. That water's disgusting. You're gross. I say. Okay. I'll see you guys when you get here. Hold on a sec."_

_She holds up the phone. "Kale wants to brag. They actually caught a living, breathing fish."_

_Julie grabs the phone and starts talking to her son and then to Daniel. They'd be home in an hour. That was the last thing she said before her jaw tightened and the knife she was holding dropped to the ground. Danielle stood up and hovered over Julie, who was now sitting against the counter on the floor. "Mom? What's going on? What happend? Mom?"_

_She just shook her head, hand on her forehead, with the phone still pressed to her ear. "Daniel? Daniel?" she repeated over and over._

_When Julie began to cry, Danielle was mentally preparing for the worst. She leaned down slowly and wrapped her arms around her sobbing mother. She barely realized that her whole body was shaking involentarily. Before the police contacted them two hours later, Julie assumed they were both dead._

Panting and sweating, Danielle Brecht shot up in her bed. Her eyes closed tightly. She could hear her heartbeat getting faster by the second as she ran both hands through her long, blonde hair that was now matted with percipitation. She was all too accustomed to the nightmares. They had been happening less and less, but when they came back, they did so with a vengeance.

For the first month after her father died, she would wake up screaming at the top of her lungs and shoving away anyone in her path. When she'd finally look around her to see what was what, her mother would be sitting beside her trying to calm her down, and Kale would be standing at attention in the doorway. Sometimes with his bat still clutched in both hands out of fear that someone had broken into the house. After a few weeks, her mother made her see a psychiatrist. That lasted for about two months until Danielle guilted her into not making her go anymore. The sessions never helped anyway. Most of the time she'd just sit there in silence. Danielle saw it as a waste of money that the three of them needed to live on. Their mother was working two jobs as it is.

Julie takes a deep breath and silently counts to ten. The _one_ tactic that she took from the therepy sessions. She closes her eyes again and pulls her knees to her chest. "Seven.. eight.. nine.. ten. Slow, deep breaths. Remember where you are. You're not back there. You're in the present. You're in the present.." she mumbles.

"D, you okay?"

Her eyes open. Kale was standing in the doorway in his Led Zepplin t-shirt and boxers. "What are you doing?" she asked him.

He leans in the doorway. "Going to take a leak. I heard something."

"I'm fine, Kale." He continues to stand there, staring at her. "Really, I'm okay."

He looks down at the floor and turns to leave. She quickly adds, "Don't tell Mom."

But he was already out of sight. She didn't even know why she'd said that. He wouldn't tell her. He hadn't even talked about the accident once since it happend.

She lays back down on her pillow, trying to fall back asleep.

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	2. House Arrest

**A/N: **

Small warning.. new characters are coming, tehe. I know the first chapter was short. Sorry 'bout that. Will make the rest longer.

Read/Review!

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Danielle shuts the door to her locker forcefully, jumping at the loud noise it made. The lack of sleep from the night before had officially taken affect.

She slumps down the hallway of the crowded high school, pushing past kids who were coming from the opposite direction. Being a freshman was a fate worse than death. The word itself summed you up in about five seconds. _Losers. Bottom of the food chain. Little shits. Punching bags. Fresh meat._ And then there was the occasional _whores_ thrown around, referring to the permiscuity of most of the girls her age. She'd be the first to admit it too. Danielle could count on both hands how many times she had walked into a bathroom during class and find two-- or three girls either having sex with some guy or with eachother. It just wasn't her thing.

A shy smile spreads across her face. But yes, she was having her share of fun. But the boy in question was not her boyfriend. Oh no. That also wasn't her thing. She didn't sleep around, but labeling someone as her boyfriend wasn't something she wanted to do anytime soon. Keeping your options open is better. Seth Rogen wasn't her boyfriend. They'd met in middle school by Danielle letting him out of a locker at the same time everyday for almost a year. A locker in which he was shoved into by the same group of jock assholes.

They became fast friends after that and just a few weeks ago had made a pact that there would be certain benefits to their friendship. It was their first year in high school afterall. Experimentation was inevidable. Why not let it be with someone you actually want to be around? It seemed simple enough. Only bad thing about it was that they were forced to sneak around outside of school because of her mother. She dreaded the day she'd have to explain her newfound relationship with Seth to her, which is why she'd never find out. Quite honestly, the sneaking around part made it all the more fun. They'd found dozens of interesting private places.

Danielle stopped at a locker and leaned on the one next to it. Jane Kowalski nibbled on her sucker and quickly bit off the entire thing from the stick when a teacher walked by. She gave him a fake smile and turned back around. "Nazi bastards. I swear to fucking Christ. What, we can't eat anymore? Are we in a sweat shop now?"

"I take it your weekend was as bad as mine?" Danielle doesn't smile. It was the sad truth.

Jane takes three books out of the locker and slams it closed. "Pretty much the same. Good 'ol Dad never showed to pick up me and Preston for the weekend-- again. He decided to go to Cabo with his new girlfriend instead-- who it turns out is only five years older than I am."

"Are you serious? Is that-- that's not even legal is it?"

The raven haired girl shrugs, popping another sucker in her mouth. "I don't fucking know. I'm not a cop. Probably. Anyway, so Carol was pissed for like the whole time and Steve from the gym came over and she made us watch Pretty Woman with them. It was tragic. Praise God for inventing the IPod. Can you top that?"

Danielle lets out a small chucking, shaking her head. "No. You win."

"Yay. I love winning most disfuctional, non-functioning family. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. By the way, we're going to that club this weekend right? I got the id's from what's his name from third period Lit. Marcus or whatever. They actually turned out really good." She takes them out of her purse and shows them to Danielle.

Laughing, "Oh my God. Janey, these are horrible! Nobody is going to believe that I'm twenty-seven. Most people still think I'm in the fifth grade." Danielle was always getting complements on how youthful she looked. Said people obviously didn't realize that that's only a complement when you're forty. Not fifteen.

"Okay, I think you could pass for twenty-something in this picture. It's a good picture." Jane stops talking when she see's an unwanted arm sling around Danielle's shoulder.

Scott Morrison. Scott was one of the reasons why Danielle didn't want a boyfriend. One of the main reasons, actually. He was everything she hated about guys her age. Arrogant, dated a different girl every week, thought he was God's gift to women, and everytime you turned him down he'd just keep on asking. Not to mention he was one of the jock assholes who used to shove Seth in lockers. It was ironic as hell that Danielle was the one he wouldn't leave alone.

Danielle shifted her head slightly away from Scott has he inched closer to her face. "What's going on, D?"

She shakes her head, looking from the floor to Jane who was watching with disgust. "Talking. Standing. Waiting for the bell."

"So, listen there's a party at my brother's friends place down by the shore tonight. Pick you up at around eight?" She is about to respond when students start running past them down the hallway towards a crowd forming around an open door. Jane takes off to see what's going on and quickly returns wide eyed. "Kale."

That was all that needed to be said. Within two seconds, she had shoved Scott's arm off of her and was barreling behind Jane She could hear multiple punches hitting a skull before even reaching the door. There was Kale in the middle of the floor beating the shit out of Mr. Gutierrez. Ronnie was trying to hold him back, but didn't seem to effective at it. No surprise there. Much like Seth Rogen, Ronnie was the kid you protected from the bullies. They were never good in a fight.

Jane links her arm with Danielle's, looking on non chalantly. "No one's even doing anything. Where the hell are the teachers?"

She just shrugged. "They'll get here what they get here." This was not what their mom needed right now. Deeply sighing, "Damn it, Kale."

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The judge sat in his chair looking over the papers in front of him. No one in that court room wanted to be there. The tension could have been cut with a knife. After a few moments of no one saying anything, Danielle felt Julie take hold of her hand under the table. She gave it a gentle squeeze, trying not to make eye contact with the black eyed, Spanish teacher sitting right across from her. It didn't have anything to do with disliking him. She didn't even know the man.

From her perspective, Kale was an idiot for ever punching him in the first place. It was just something you didn't do. Period. No matter how mad you were. It was just like the other three times he'd pulled the same shit. He never gave a reason because there wasn't one. He was just angry at the world.

The judge takes off his glasses and looks down at all of them. "Okay, Mr Brecht." Kate stood up with a blank look on his face. "You're six months shy of eighteen and that means the assault two charge you plead guilty to carries a maximum of one year in juvie. With these priors you're up to three."

The grip on Danielle's hand got tighter. This was it. Kale had finally done it. "Losing a parent isn't easy. Which is why I'm sentencing you to three months house arrest."

A sigh of relief escaped from both women. "Mr. Brecht I just cut you a break. Don't test me."

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Kale walked around the kitchen with his new ankle monitor, trying to get used to it. Danielle rolled her eyes watching him squirm, continuing to eat her cereal at the counter. Making a face, she switches the song on her IPod. 30 Seconds To Mars. That was more like it.

She turns the music down and starts listening in when Julie's expression changed drastically. _Twelve dollars everyday. I accept all major credit cards. _She takes off her earphones. Julie and the female probation officer walk into the next room and leave them with Officer Gutierrez. He makes sure the other officer isn't in earshot and turns to Kale. "That Spanish teacher you messed up? He's my cousin."

Kale went pale and glanced over at Danielle. She smiles. "Wow. That is brilliant. Officer Gutierrez you have seriously made my day. Thank you."

He nods at her returning the smirk. Kale doesn't look amused. "Will you shut the hell up, please?"

"You should be nice to your sister. Looks like you'll be spending alot of time together for the next three months."

Danielle nods in agreement. "He has a point, Kale. You should be nice to me."

"Oh, and one more thing." the probation officer adds, "House arrest may sound like a breeze but I've seen alot of people get loopy after too long. Sometimes after as little as a day or two. I suggest you find constructive things to do."

Kale sits on top of the counter. "You got it. Only the most constructive."

The three adults leave the kitchen as Julie walks them to the front door. This was too easy for Danielle. Kale was obviously in his own personal hell. What was he supposed to do for three months? Their mother wasn't going to make it easy for him. That's for sure. "You know she can't even begin to afford that twelve dollars a day, right?"

"Could you maybe make this whole thing a little more difficult for me? Maybe? Possibly?" Kale asks her, sarcastically.

She shakes her head as her cell phone beeps. "I could, yes. You shouldn't have even hit him in the first place."

"He was asking for it." Kale answers, looking down at the floor.

Danielle rolls her eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure he was and it wasn't just you being your asshole self." She looks down at her phone. There's a text message that says _bootie call?_ She texts back _Bad time. Kale drama. Maybe later._ The response was simply _you complete me_. She smiles, flipping the phone back down. Seth, Seth, Seth. He knew that always made her laugh.

Looking back up, she notices Kale staring at her. The smile dissapears from her face. "Who was that?" he asks.

"Jane," she responds quickly. "Not that it's any of your business, convict boy."

Kale smiles for the first time in days. He was going to enjoy this more than he thought. "Well, we're going to be spending alot of time together. Remember? So consider me offically _in_ your business. Listening in on phone calls, staying up late, being the eyes and ears.. the law if you will."

The non-smile has now been replaced by pure hatred. "That's right little sister. I'm the dangerous convict boy with nothing to do."

"I hope you end up on America's Most Wanted. How's that?" she retorts, angerly.

He walks past her and starts up the stairs. "I'd prefer Dateline. Or Cops. Much more entertaining."

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	3. Strike One

**A/N:**

Read/Review.

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Danielle groaned as Seth Rogen moved his lips down her bare stomach. She clutched the bed railing and tried to stretch her legs out as much as she could. This week had been her own personal hell. Kale had made good on his promise of torturing her. It was the first week of summer vacation. She was going to be a Sophomore in two months. This should be the best time of her life. But her brother was currently making her life miserable. Go figure.

A sharp pain dug into her right hip. "Ow! What the hell?!"

Seth pushed himself up on both sides of her. "What?"

Danielle moves out from under him and sits up. "You elbowed me again. Are you trying to scar me for life or what?"

He sighs, leaning back against the head board. "I told you my bed's too small. Why can't we just go to your place like we usually do?"

She reaches over him and grabs the glass of water on the night stand. "One word. Starts with a K. Didn't we talk about this when I got here?"

Seth stands up and gives her an annoyed look, pulling on his jeans. He shoves the fabric sticking out of his jeans back in the pockets and crosses the room. Danielle always had some excuse for everything when it came to their _relationship_. If you could even call it that. They definately didn't go out on dates as a couple or hold hands or anything like that. And that was fine with him. He'd never had a serious girlfriend anyway. But this was starting be more than sex for him. He was _really_ starting to like her.

He mumbles angerly under his breath and starts rummaging through dirty clothes on the floor for a clean shirt. He hadn't done laundry in over a week. Danielle looks over at him, sensing something was wrong. Why did he look so irritated? "What's wrong with you?" she asks, leaning over the bed and pulling on her shirt.

"I can't find my shirt. That's what's wrong. Everything else is perfect, according to you anyway." Seth answers without looking at her.

Danielle stands up and puts a hand on her hip. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Seth whips around and is about to speak but stops. She only had underwear and a shirt on. His eyes went from her face to the lower region. Danielle clears her throat. "I'm up here, horndog."

He stares at her for a second and suddenly everything he wanted to say had left his head. He'd been practicing this speech in his head for days now. He couldn't tell her. The timing wasn't right. Maybe it would never be, but this definately was not it. He glances down at the floor. There was his shirt right below him. He pulls it on over his head. "Found it."

Danielle looks at him strangely. He looked like he wanted to say something important before. She didn't want to push it so she just smiled at him, and stayed silent.

"Hey, did you want to come over for dinner? We have leftovers from last night." she asks him, pulling on her jacket.

He nods, scratching his head. "Sounds enticing enough. Why not."

"Cool." says Danielle, heading out the bedroom door. Seth curses himself. He was such a pussy.

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Kale woke up in his chair to the television from downstairs. He stood up and peered out the window. Someone was moving in nextdoor. Great, more annoying little kids he'd have to deal with day in and day out. It seemed like the only new families the neighborhood got anymore were ones with small children.

He heads down the stairs and is about to turn to corner towards the ktichen, but stops when he see's Danielle and Seth sitting on the couch watching MTV in the living room. He had his arm around her shoulder. Something about this didn't seem right. Kale knew they'd been friends for years. He'd been in an out of their house ever since he could remember. But he'd never seen them sitting so close to one another and looking so casual about it. Unless they were play fighting or something. But they were just sitting there.

It wasn't that it bothered him. It didn't. Seth was the only guy that Danielle hung around with, and her only friend in general, that he actually liked. Sure, he gave him a hard time. He was a geeky kid. It was easy, but he liked him enough. As long as she wasn't within reaching distance of the Morrison kid, who Kale loathed because of his complete conformity and the fact that he was always looking at his sister in _that_ way, he was fine. She seemed to forget that even though they hung around with different crowds, they did go to the same school. Kale had eyes that fuctioned properly.

He leans in the doorframe and clears his throat, making his presence known. Seth quickly removed his arm and Danielle scooted about two feet down the couch. _Oh yeah._ Kale thought. _Something was definately going on._ "How long have you guys been here?"

Seth was avoiding eye contact with Kale and looked like he was about to wet his pants. He knew. He definately knew. Danielle seemed calm as she snatched the remote from Seth and changed the channel. The last thing she wanted to see was Ashlee Simpson getting Punk'd. "About an hour. Did we wake you up?"

Kale pushes back the curtains and looks outside. "No. They did. Someone's moving in." He opens the door the get a better look and stares ahead in a daze. A beautiful blonde girl leaned over and picked up three bags of clothing. He couldn't stop staring. She was one of the prettiest girls he'd ever seen.

"Hello?" Danielle says. Kale snaps out of it, turning his head inside. "What?"

She points. "Doorbell. You're the closest."

"Yeah, okay." He sticks his head back out just in time to see the girl walking back up the steps. The doorbell rang again. Seth stands up. "I can get it."

"No, I'll get it." Kale's head connects with the door when he tries to come back inside. Danielle chuckles, taking a bite out of her popsicle. "What is wrong with you right now?"

Seth is already halfway to the front door when Kale walks briskly past him. "I'll get it."

Kale opens the door and a plastic bag set on fire is sitting on the front porch. "Shit!" he yells, trying to put it out with his feet. Seth rushes outside to help and starts stomping on the bag with his shoes. He realized what the bag contained when the odor from Kale's socks started to wreak. He covers his nose. "Is that?"

Kale makes a face, looking down at his sock angerly. "What does it smell like to you? Yeah, it's _that_."

A lump formed in Seth's throat as he stepped back from Kale slightly. He would never admit it, but Danielle's brother had always scared the crap out of him. He still couldn't tell if he'd seen him with his arm around Danielle on the couch or not. He's taken out of his thoughts when Kale takes off running across the lawn. "Not before I shove my foot and this shit back up your asses!" he heard him yell at two kids riding away on bikes. They must have put the bag on the porch.

Danielle tugged at the back of Seth's shirt. "Kale, stop! What are you doing?! Shit. Seth, you have to go after him. If he's a hundred feet from the monitor in the kitchen the ankle bracelet goes off, and the cops show up." Seth doesn't even let this information register before he starts running after him. Despite what many people thought, Seth was pretty fast. It didn't take long before he was alongside Kale running after the bikes in the street.

He stops when Kale does, and is panting for breath. He was fast, yes, but his lungs never lasted long. Athletics weren't his strong suit. The red light on the bracelet starts beeping and Kale starts running back to the house, mumbling obscenities under his breath. Seth follows him, hoping that he made it in time. He watches him on the edge of the driveway and notices the new neighbors looking on like he was some kind of a nut. They weren't that far off base as far as Seth was concerned. "Hey, you okay?" asks the man.

Kale kicks the grass and shouts, "Yes, I'm free! Yes! Green means free. Yes! Bad ass! Little bastards."

Seth turns back to neighbors, giving them a reassuring wave. "He's fine-- he's free. It turned. He made it to green in time.." They are non-responsive and quickly go back to moving boxes. He mumbles to no one inparticular, "And that made no sense whatsoever. Wonderful.. just wonderful."

Danielle walks down the steps towards her brother. "You're a moron, you know that? What did you think they were going to stop and apologize for putting shit on our doorstep?"

"Damn straight. I would have made the little brats apologize." Kale answers. His face goes pale when a police car pulls up in the driveway.

Before anyone even gets out of the car, Kale is pleading his case to Officer Gutierrez. "He's telling the truth, we were both here. He wasn't trying to go anywhere. Someone put a bag on our porch. It was on fire." Danielle tries to explain, as she and Seth move next to Kale, who has his hands up in surrender.

The Officer doesn't look like he cares as he strides across the lawn towards them. "Get down on the ground now, and put your hands behind your head."

Seth grabs Danielle's hand when she tries to intervene. "Wait, seriously-- he's telling the truth. He wasn't trying to leave. He was just trying to stop these two kids. They're on bikes. They couldn't have gone far. Arrest _them_. He didn't do anything."

The Officer motions for them to step back. "I'm going to have to ask both of you to step back. This is a police matter."

Seth couldn't believe this was happening. He didn't even care this it was a mistake. "This is absolutely ridiculous. Officer--"

But it was still no use. Before they knew it, Kale's hands were behind his back and Officer Gutierrez was putting on the handcuffs.

Seth shakes his head, "I don't think the handcuffs are neccesary."

The Officer shoots him a look. "If I wanted your opinion, I would have asked for it."

Danielle puts her hand on her forehead, getting more upset by the second. She'd never seen anyone get arrested before. Let alone her own brother. "Kale." she says, barely above a whisper. He buries his face in the grass, facing away from them. "I'm okay, Dani. Everything's cool. Go in the house with Rogen."

Seth pulls her back. "He's right. It's just a misunderstanding. They'll straighten it out."

Danielle shakes her head. "No, everything is not cool! He didn't do anything." she directs to the Officer.

Seth pulls her towards the house and they go back inside.

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